Last area Gander Mountain stores teeter

The Twinsburg Gander Mountain store is marked for closing, joining the Sheffield VIllage Store (shown) that shut in February. (File photo)

RV and associated items seller Camping World (NYSE: CWH) may be the cavalry that saves many of Gander Mountain Co.'s stores. But things don't look good for the last three stores in Northeast Ohio.

Cable TV celebrity Marcus Lemonis, chairman and CEO of Camping World, said on his Twitter feed late Thursday, May 11, that the Twinsburg store, 2695 Creekside Drive, will shut. He separately tweeted earlier a note saying stores are still under negotiations with landlords if they are on neither the closing list or a to-be saved list. No area locations are on the list of stores remaining open.

However, employees answering phones at the Mentor and North Canton locations, where liquidation sales have been under way since May 5, said they expect the Lake County store to shut and haven't gotten information on the Stark County store.

The Mentor store is at 9620 Diamond Centre Drive. The North Canton store is at 4938 NW Portage St.

Another Lemonis tweet said a factor in whether stores remain open is whether cities and landlords will allow the sale of recreational vehicles, Camping World's core business, on the premises.

Chicago-based Camping World said it might keep 70 of Gander Mountain's 160 remaining stores open when it closed the May 5 purchase of the St. Paul, Minn.-based retailer after it was the successful bidder at an auction by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota. Staying open would be determined by amended lease terms and other factors.

Gander Mountain shut its Sheffield Village store in February, citing the earlier expiration of its lease at the Cobblestone Square shopping center.

Lemonis, who stars on CNBC reality TV show The Profit where he helps floundering businesses, took to tweeting updates on store fates after the court action. In the most recent case, he listed 15 store closings, including Twinsburg.

However, liquidation sales remain underway because Camping World wants to adjust the merchandise mix for its vision of the operations going forward.

Camping World already is in Northeast Ohio; it has an Akron store visible from I-77 at 1005 Interstate Parkway.

Lemonis did not respond to a tweeted query Friday, May 12, from Crain's Cleveland Business, and Camping World's communications department did not respond by 12:45 p.m. Friday to a call placed on Thursday.